


Seven Days

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-18
Updated: 2005-12-18
Packaged: 2019-01-19 23:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12420534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Lily gives James seven days to redeem himself. Includes mice, references to prehistoric men and aristocrats, and some head-bashing for good measure. Song fic to Sting's Seven Days.





	Seven Days

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

Disclaimer: This story is inspired by J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter books, and the Sting song "Seven Days". This is for pure entertainment. I gain no profit besides a boosted ego from reviews. 

 

Seven Days

"Seven days" was all she wrote  
A kind of ultimatum note  
She gave to me, she gave to me

James Potter stared at the slip of parchment in his hand. The bell rang, signaling the end of History of Magic, and Sirius had to punch him in the arm to snap him out of it. The only thing written on the paper was two words: "Seven Days", written in neat, spiky writing. The note had been passed to him not-so-discreetly (no one needs to be discreet in History of Magic with Binns, anyways) by none other than Lily Evans, the rather pretty Head Girl of Hogwarts.   
It was a response to the question he'd asked her the night before just outside the Prefect Lounge, before they'd been interrupted by a particularly irritable Filch. 

[Flashback:]  
..."Would you maybe, er, go with me? To Hogsmeade I mean." He stopped talking abruptly, and stuffed his hands in his pockets so that he couldn't run his hands through his hair. She hated it when he did that. He waited, while Lily regarded him with a calculating look.   
"And I thought all the hexes I shot at you in 5th year would be enough to get you off my back." He cringed, and looked up at her carefully, only to find her eyes twinkling at him in an amused manner. He scowled at her.   
"That was cruel."   
"I think it was deserved." He did still feel guilty over how he'd been in 5th year. So he backed off. His hand was half way up to his hair before he shoved it back in his pocket.   
"I'm not proud of who I was back then." The amusement in her face was gone, and back was the calculating look.   
"I'll admit, you've changed a lot since then. But I can't say I'm convinced that you're someone I'd want to date." Sensing a challenge, he smiled.   
"And what would be required of me to prove this to you?" She gave him a coy look.   
"I'm not going to tell you that. You'll have to figure that out yourself. I'll give you--" she was interrupted by howls of rage.  
"PEEVES! I'LL HAVE YOU THIS TIME!"...

And thus the note. Seven days. He had seven days to convince Lily Evans that he was worthy of her. 

When I thought the field had cleared  
It seems another suit appeared  
To challenge me, woe is me

At lunch, he made his way to the Great Hall absent-mindedly, trying to figure out what exactly he should do if Lily happened to be there. Should he go up to her and say hi? Should he try to sit next to her? Or maybe she'd prefer it if he just left her alone while she ate? His musings were interrupted however, when he accidentally bashed right into the elaborate stone wall next to the entrance to the Hall. A couple people gave him odd looks, and he scowled at them. All thoughts of headaches and vengeance against the wall were driven from his mind when he spotted Lily, sitting at the Gryffindor table about half way down. To his horror, he saw another 7th year boy get up from the Ravenclaw table and make a beeline for Lily, and then sit down right next to her. He was still staring as he picked up a conversation with her. His eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly as she laughed loudly at something he'd said. Why that little &

Though I hate to make a choice  
My options are decreasing mostly rapidly  
Well we'll see

Cursing under his breath, he made his way towards the end of the table where he saw Peter, Sirius and Remus sitting. Not entirely trusting his mouth not to make a cutting remark at the unfortunately good-looking Ravenclaw, he settled for a wave and a strained smile, which she returned, to his almost delight. The Ravenclaw was still sitting there. 

I don't think she'd bluff this time  
I really have to make her mine  
It's plain to see  
It's him or me

"Hey James, real impressive stunt there at the entrance." Peter commented as he took a seat.   
"Yeah, we were just wondering. Were you aiming for a concussion to spend some more time with the lovely Madam Pomfrey? Or did you want an excuse to skive off Transfiguration with Minnie?" Sirius asked from above the mountain of food on his plate. James glared at both of them.   
"Shove off the lot of you." Peter and Sirius engaged in an argument on James' motives, with an occasional eye roll on Remus' part. Remus was busy reading from his Charms textbook. James stared moodily at the (in his opinion) obnoxious Ravenclaw. After a while however, he decided that he wanted to know exactly who his rival was. He guessed that Remus would be most likely to know, so he tried to ask the question without sounding too much like a jealous prat.   
"Remus, what'cha readin'?" Remus didn't even look up from his book when he answered.   
"Charms text. Test this afternoon, remember?" He grumbled. Charms was easily his worst subject.  
"We have that class with Ravenclaw, right?" Remus looked up this time.   
"Yeah, why?"   
"So that bloke there, what's his name again? The one sitting across from Marlene? He's in our Charms class, right?" Remus looked down the table, sat back and then smiled in a you-thought-you-could-fool-me-but-you-didn't way.   
"The big, tall one sitting next to Lily?" Trying to pull on a poker face, he nodded.   
"Yeah that's the one. What's his name again? I keep forgetting."   
"Amos Diggory. The ladies really like him. What was it Dorcas said the other day? Oh yes, 'handsome and silent'." James glared at Diggory as Lily laughed again.   
"I never really liked him. Real arrogant on the Quidditch pitch, isn't he?" Remus seemed to be trying to suppress a smirk. 

Monday, I could wait till Tuesday  
If I make up my mind  
Wednesday would be fine, Thursday's on my mind  
Friday'd give me time, Saturday could wait  
But Sunday'd be too late

By the end of the afternoon, James was very frustrated. Amos Diggory seemed to be sticking to Lily like an adhesive charm. He hadn't even gotten one moment to say hello after Charms with the git looming over her. Well, it was only Monday. He would be able to do something tomorrow, when Neanderthal had buggered off. Right? Right. 

The fact he's over six feet ten  
Might instill fear in other men  
But not in me, The Mighty Flea (flee?)  
Ask if I am mouse or man  
The mirror squeaked, away I ran  
He'll murder me in time for his tea

Of course, that didn't stop him from glaring at his reflection in the dorm, trying to figure out what Diggory had over him. In an odd bout of low self-esteem, he was getting very discouraged.   
"He's not any handsomer than me, is he?" The mirror, which had detested James since first year when he'd chucked a soap bar at it when it told him to tie up his tie, snorted.   
"He's taller than me though. D'you think that makes him seem more above things than me?" Suddenly realizing what he was doing, he ruffled his hair and scowled at his reflection.   
"What, am I a mouse? Or a stag?" The mirror made a squeaking noise and snickered at him. "Oh shut it, you." He stepped out of the bathroom into the dorm, and found his three friends already there, giving him identical expectant looks. 

Does it bother me at all?  
My rival is Neanderthal, it makes me think  
Perhaps I need a drink

"Let me get this straight. You asked Lily Evans out on a date and she didn't even yell?" Sirius gawped at him from his bed, after James had summarized the conversation he'd had with her the night before. Remus seemed mildly amused.   
"Maybe someone put a cheering charm on her." Peter commented from his own bunk, while carefully eating a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. James chucked a pillow at him, which he ducked, mostly out of practice.   
"Don't get your hopes up, she didn't say yes." James said heavily, and flung himself on his bed.   
"Hopes? What makes you think we want her to say yes?" James' last pillow was flung at Sirius this time, who caught it deftly. Though a Chaser on the Quidditch team, with a normally excellent shot, it was rather hard to make a decent shot while he lay face down on the mattress.   
"Are you kidding? It'll be a relief when he finally goes out with her. I'm sick of hearing him pining for her. It's all we've heard about for the past three years." Peter quipped. Remus merely watched the exchange quietly, and then brought his attention back to James.   
"Will you two idiots be quiet? I don't know about you, but I want to know what she did say." James grumbled, and lifted himself off the mattress. Three expectant faces turned themselves on him.   
"She says she's not convinced that I'm not a prat anymore, and she's giving me seven days to convince her." Three pairs of eyes blinked at him, and he punched the nearest pillow. "ARG! What the hell does she want me to do, grovel at her feet? As if I haven't done that already!"   
"James, mate, I think you need a Butterbeer. Here." Sirius ducked under his bed and emerged with a bottle of the drink. Remus gave him a skeptical look.   
"Where'd you get that? Wait &have you been stashing Butterbeer under you bed all year?" Remus asked, once again amazed at the idiocy of his friends.   
"Well, no, only since Halloween. You want one too?" James rolled his eyes at his best friend, but took the Butterbeer.   
"You're not supposed to keep alcohol in the dorms. If you get caught, you're due for a particularly nasty detention from McGonagall." Sirius didn't seem concerned.   
"Really? Didn't know that one. How'd you know that rule anyways?" Remus stuck his head under Sirius' bed and started extracting the offending objects.   
"Lily made me read the rulebook back to front when she found out I was Head Boy. She figured at least then she was sure I knew all the rules and couldn't use that excuse if I tried to let off troublemakers." Peter groaned at the response.   
"Oh no, now you've got him started about Lily..." 

IQ is no problem here  
We won't be playing scrabble for her hand I fear  
I need that beer

Ignoring Peter, he continued. "Anyways, I've got to find a way to get her to go out with me, without that git Diggory getting involved." Peter snickered, Remus frowned in concentration, and Sirius seemed unconcerned.   
"What's Diggory got over you? He may be in Ravenclaw, but you beat him in every class." Remus rolled his eyes.   
"If Lily cared only about marks, she'd have gone out with Prongs in fifth year when he got eleven OWLS. The only one who got higher than that was Lily herself." Remus commented.   
"Didn't Lily think he was an arrogant prat in 5th year and hexed him whenever he asked her out?" Peter asked, frowning at an odd gray bean. James signed, and took a swig of his Butterbeer.  
"I really don't need to be reminded of that Peter."   
"Sorry, Prongs." 

Monday, I could wait till Tuesday  
If I make up my mind

Remus's first advice was that girls liked the "friends first" approach. Since Remus got along best with Lily out of the four of them, James decided to go along with it. On Tuesday morning, James headed over to the Great Hall, reciting Remus' advice in his head. No hitting on her. Be polite. No snide remarks at Diggory. No pricky comments. Have a friendly conversation, then move on. Don't hover like the Ravenclaw git. No running of hands through hair. No–  
"Ow..." he grumbled, as he bashed into the doorway for the second time that week. He rubbed his forehead, and cursed under his breath. Dratted wall.   
"A bit preoccupied this morning?" He whirled around and found Lily standing there, an amused smile on her face, and no Diggory. Right, just a normal, friendly conversation...  
"Yeah, but I don't usually bash into walls two times a week. I'll have to ask Sirius if anyone's rigged the wall lately." She raised an eyebrow.   
"And Sirius would be in a place to know this why?" He gave her a roguish grin.   
"Oh, we rigged a couple walls in 3rd year to attract Slytherins so that they constantly bumped into them. It was great. For a week, half of Slytherin house had big bumps on their heads from constantly hitting walls." Oh no, I've just blown it, she's going to start yelling at me... But instead she rolled her eyes, and headed for the doorway.   
"How you cause so much trouble without getting caught is beyond me. But if he did rig the wall, you know I'm going to have to report him, right?" he shrugged, still a little bewildered that he's gotten out of at severe thrashing there.   
"Meh, I think I just needed someone to blame for being clumsy two days in a row." Okay, keep talking, find some other safe topic... "So, how d'you think you did on the Charms test yesterday?" Charms was always a good subject to discuss with Lily, because it was her favorite subject.   
"Oh, it was pretty easy. There was just that question about the Patronus Charm that I'm not sure I got right." He nodded. He of course, had taken at least 10 whole minutes on the dratted question. They spent a couple minutes discussing Charms techniques, and James concluded that having interesting conversations with Lily was not at all difficult, once he regarded her as any other girl he was friends with. They parted ways when Lily found her friends, and he went on down the table.   
"See you in Arithmancy!" He called, and went to join Remus, who was, once again, reading a book. He fell onto the chair with a relieved sign.  
"So? How'd it go?" Remus asked, abandoning his book, and taking a sip of pumpkin juice.   
"Okay. She didn't once raise her voice, or make cutting remarks, nor did she mention Diggory!" Remus nodded in approval, and went back to his book.   
"Aren't you going to celebrate with me?" James asked, while pilling his English muffin with as much raspberry jam as he could.   
"Nah, you still have plenty of opportunities to screw up."   
"Thanks for the vote of confidence. I feel so enlightened."

Wednesday would be fine, Thursday's on my mind

He'd followed Remus' advice for the rest of the day, catching up to her in the corridors and discussing random things. Surprisingly enough, he did nothing incredibly stupid, and he thought he was doing pretty good all things considered. Of course, it didn't help things that Diggory kept popping up at the most annoying moments, trying to shoo him away like some fly. It took all of his determination not to tell Diggory to stop acting like the annoying sparrow he was and go back to the nest. Not that Diggory was hesitant in dropping well-hidden insults his way. He was pretty sure Lily only caught half of Diggory's innuendos. Remus, when consulted, told him that Lily would consider him the better man if he resisted the bait. Apparently, Diggory was trying to provoke him into a fight that would leave James looking a lot worse. So he kept his mouth shut. Of course that didn't stop him from being as unpleasant to Diggory as possible when Lily wasn't there.

Friday'd give me time, Saturday could wait  
But Sunday'd be too late

When Thursday came, he was starting to panic. Having civil conversations was all very nice, but he had to do something. It was first period Charms, and they were practicing advanced repairing charms. Remus was giving him some advice on what to do next. He told him to take small steps.   
"Small steps? Small steps?! How do you go from mortal enemy to couple in three days using small steps?!"   
"First of all, calm down. Second, you're not mortal enemies. Third, try asking her if you can escort her to her next class."   
"Escort her to her next class. Right. That sounds like I'm some sort of aristocratic snob that wants to invite her to waltz." Remus rolled his eyes.   
"She hasn't tried to kill you yet, has she? Besides, girls like Lily like it when you act gentlemanly. It makes them feel sophisticated."   
"Lily doesn't need me to feel sophisticated." Remus signed in frustration.   
"Just do it already!" At that point, the bell rang, and the chaos of the class dispersed. Making a quick decision, he jogged to catch up to Lily, who was one of the first out.   
"Hey Lily!" She turned and gave him a smile. She didn't wait for him though. He caught up to her.   
"Hey. Good class?" She shrugged.   
"Was alright. I already knew those charms from last year though, so it was kind of dull."   
"Of course, you passed NEWT level Charms ages ago. I'm still trying to figure out Summoning Charms." She rolled her eyes, but he thought he caught a little pink in her cheeks at the compliment. It gave him some confidence.  
"I'm sure you're not that bad." He grinned at her.   
"You'd be surprised. Anyways, what do you have next?" She checked her timetable quickly.   
"Ancient Runes. You?"   
"Divination." He made a gagging noise and she giggled.   
"I still don't know why you took that class. It's all a load of tosh, and you know it." He shrugged.   
"Yeah, but annoying Trelawney is always loads of fun." He took a deep breath, and almost ran his hands through his hair, but caught himself half-way. "Ummm, would you mind if I, er, walked you to Ancient Runes?" She gave him a slightly surprised look. "I mean, it's just that Divination is right around that way, and I mean &" He was babbling. Not good. Especially since the North Tower was nowhere near the Ancient Runes classroom, but he hoped she didn't notice. He realized he'd been looking at his shoes, and when he looked up, he was surprised to find her blushing.   
"Oh, er, sure. If you want." The sight of Lily flustered was so adorable, and his mood so lightened by her response that he nearly whooped for joy. Instead, he smiled so wide he thought his face would crack, and kept walking.   
"Say, we have to have a prefect meeting some time soon, I caught Bellatrix Black giving free points to some Slytherin first years the other day..."

Seven days will quickly go  
The fact remains, I love her so

Although very happy about the fact that Lily was letting him walk her from class to class, he still didn't think he'd won her over yet. He was musing over this at lunch time on Friday while on his way to the Great Hall. He spotted Lily then, talking with Amos Diggory. Oh goody, just what I need to improve my day. He thought sarcastically at the sight of the Ravenclaw. Deciding that he didn't want Diggory stealing his spotlight, he approached the pair.   
"Hey Lily," he smiled at her, "Diggory." He nodded his head by way of greeting. Diggory glared at him from behind Lily, who'd turned around to give him a proper greeting.   
"Hi James. Actually, it's a good thing you showed up, we were just having a bit of a debate about the effects of werewolves on Animagi. Since you're the resident expert on Transfiguration, would you care to help us out here?" He glowed. Lily had just complimented him.   
"Sure." He didn't think he trusted himself to say much more than that. Diggory's glare had reached new levels of dislike.   
"If a werewolf were to bite an Animagi, would they become werewolves too? Or are they sufficiently transformed that it doesn't affect them?" Luckily for him, he had first hand experience on the subject.   
"No, they wouldn't become werewolves. Werewolf bites only affect you if you're completely human." Diggory looked disappointed. Probably annoyed that I got it right. Lily turned back to Diggory.   
"You were right then! That'll teach me to argue with a Ravenclaw." Diggory raised an eyebrow.   
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. After all, we have a Gryffindor here settling the matter." And that was about the nicest Diggory ever got. Really, what did Lily see in him? "Though I might question why he would be so informed on werewolf habits." Silence. James narrowed his eyes dangerously at him.   
"Are you insinuating something, Diggory?" Diggory merely raised his eyebrows disarmingly.   
"Not at all, Potter. I just thought your knowledge on the subject might be due to something closer to home than textbooks." He knows. He thought frantically. He knows about Remus... James glared back ferociously. You dare say anything I will wring your neck, you arrogant git...  
Lily, who had been looking nervously at each of them in turn, broke the silence.   
"I think I see Marlene at the end of the table. I'll talk to you later, James, Amos." She turned to make her way down the table, when Diggory went too far.   
"How is Remus Lupin lately? Looks a bit under the weather." James, who had been following Lily, whirled around.   
"Why don't you keep your beaky nose out if my friend's business, Diggory?" He could feel Lily's eyes on them, and he knew this was exactly what Diggory wanted, but he was at his limit. Diggory could pick all he wanted on him, but NOT on his friends.   
"I was merely commenting that he hasn't been wolfing anything down like he usually does." That was it. He snapped. He lunged forward, and was about to sock him in the jaw when he was grabbed from behind. Let me at him, damn it! I'll take his eyes out, the slime ball! Diggory had made a hasty retreat, and both Remus and Lily were standing over him. He jumped up.   
"Let me at him–"He tried to go after Diggory but was grabbed back again by Remus.   
"He's not worth it, James. Let him be." Remus said.   
"He kept insulting you, Remus. Let me at him, I swear, he deserves it–" He kept struggling.   
"James! Stop it!" Lily snapped, and he stopped struggling, and was suddenly brought back to reality. Remus patted him on the back.   
"I don't need you to defend me James. You know there's nothing anyone can do about it." But he was barely paying attention to Remus. It was Lily he was staring at. Oh God, what did I just do... Lily was furious.   
"What were you thinking?!" She yelled. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back out the Hall.   
"Lily, he was making jabs at--"  
"Making jabs? The only one who was making jabs was you, Potter! I thought you'd gotten over fighting in the halls, but I guess I was wrong!" Suddenly he incredibly angry. Who was she to make assumptions? Who was she to say that?  
"Me? Who are you to criticize me! He was insulting one of my best friends! I've put up with his insults all week, but I am not going to sit back and watch him pick on my friends! My friends are important to me Evans, and no half-wit Ravenclaw is going to insult them without me having something to say about it. And I'm sorry if you can't stand a little loyalty in a person, but that's how I am, so get over it!" He was roaring by the last sentence, and he was so furious he barely noticed the slightly frightened look she was giving him. He was suddenly very fed up with the whole thing, and whirled around. He took off, not caring which way he was going, at a run. 

Seven days, so many ways  
But I can't run away

It took him five minutes in the bitter wind on the Quidditch pitch to realize that he was, indeed, an idiot. God help me, she is never going to look at me again. Of all the stupid things to do, he hadn't thought yelling at her would be an option, but apparently he just had.   
Awww...fuck.  
He gave himself ten minutes to wallow in self-pity, sitting on the stands, one figure against the howling wind. Then he got up, and went back to the castle, his stomach growling. He didn't exactly feel like facing Lily right then. Maybe if he let her alone a bit, she'd calm down.  
So he made his way to the Kitchens, and the house elves presented him with some lunch, which he ate half-heartedly. When the bell rang, he hurried to class. He glanced at Lily. She avoided his gaze. He collapsed onto a chair next to Sirius, bashed his head on the desk for good measure, and started taking out his Defense textbook and notes. Sirius turned towards Peter.   
"Pay up ol' chap, I said before Saturday." Peter scowled, and dug some gold out of his pocket. Remus rolled his eyes at them, and James was too glum to care.   
Lily completely ignored him after class, and he figured he'd better not try to walk her to her next class, lest she hex him. By the end of the day, she was still ignoring him, and he was in a decidedly bad mood, snapping at younger students in the Common Room for doing things like "giggling pointlessly" and "breathing loudly". Such behavior did not go unnoticed by the other three of the foursome. Sirius and Peter determined it their duty to cheer him up, and set about enchanting random objects to talk, and giving jinxed candies to a few first years who didn't know better than to accept anything from Sirius Black. This only succeeded in making him feel worse, especially when Lily walked in, and seeing the chaos, sent a glare his way.   
At nine he went up to the dorm, thoroughly fed up with the day, and wishing it would end soon. 

Monday, I could wait till Tuesday  
If I make up my mind  
Wednesday would be fine, Thursday's on my mind  
Friday'd give me time, Saturday could wait  
But Sunday'd be too late

Saturday morning dawned bright and early. The sun rose at six, and James lay in bed, staring the ceiling, for nearly two hours. He was doomed. How on Earth was he supposed to convince Lily now? He had no clue, and felt completely helpless. Getting frustrated with himself, he got up, and went to get breakfast. The other three in the dorm were still fast asleep.   
He wandered around all morning, hoping to bump into Lily at some point, but not daring to go looking for her incase she was still angry with him. He ate lunch, and wandered some more, until he realized he had a prefect meeting to get to. Which Lily would definitely be at. Well, that would give him a chance to apologize, hopefully.   
He arrived five minutes early, and Lily wasn't there yet. In fact, she was the last one to arrive, just as the clock struck three. The prefect meeting went about as normal, and he performed his duties as Head Boy with a minimum of hitch ups. Lily refused to look him in the eye, and it was frankly driving him crazy. When the prefect meeting was over, Lily was the first out the door, and he was swamped by traffic and didn't manage to catch up.   
It was incredibly frustrating.   
Finally deciding that he'd better fix things up (the fact that today was the last of his seven days had not escaped notice), he all but ran to the dorm and dove into the pile of dirty clothes in search of the Marauder's Map. He emerged with the faithfully blank parchment and muttered the proper incantation that turned it into a perfect map of Hogwarts.   
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He scanned it with his eyes, looking for the tell tale bright green dot that was Lily. When they'd finished the map in 5th year, he'd looked so often for Lily's dot that he'd ended up color-coding it, much to Sirius, Peter and Remus' amusement. The dot labeled "Lily Evans" was moving towards the Library by a rather obscure path. He dashed out the dorm, through a couple well-hidden shortcuts, and stopped at a corner next to a painting of a snobby looking Muggle gentleman standing in a ballroom, flirting with all the ladies in the frame.   
He checked the map again. Lily was a few corridors down, and she'd stopped moving. But there was another dot there. He peered at the label. Lucius Malfoy. The dot was moving slowly closer to the bright green dot, and he didn't like that. Not one bit. He cleared the map, stuffed it in his pocket, and moved silently around the next few corners until he could hear their voices, and then see them.   
"Such bravery from a little Mudblood girl like you &" Bastard.   
"Wash your mouth out, Malfoy. 10 points from Slytherin." Lily replied coldly. He approached carefully, they hadn't noticed him yet, which was probably for the best, as he was so angry, he was risking making a spectacle of himself again in front of Lily. Malfoy was scowling.   
"You think points matter to me? You're just a little Muggle-born girl, you're not worthy of Head Girl and you know it, you--"The implication had not been hard to miss.  
"Get some new vocabulary, Malfoy." They both jumped at his voice and whirled to face him.   
"Potter. Why am I not surprised?" He sneered. James raised a cool eyebrow, and walked closer to them. He was struggling in an internal battle over whether he should punch that smirk off Malfoy's face once and for all. Lily seemed to think this was enough.   
"Malfoy, I'm giving you 5 seconds to get out of my sight before I take another 30 points off for disrespect towards the Head students." Lily said, giving him a stare that dared him to suggest otherwise. He didn't budge.   
"And another 20 for racist comments." James added. Grudgingly, Malfoy made to leave.   
"You'll see who wins in the end Potter, and you Evans, Mudbloods and blood traitors beware &"   
"50 points from Slytherin." Lily hissed at his back as he left. He shot her a venomous look, and James stepped forward, daring him to say another word. But he turned and left. Slowly, dreading Lily's reaction, he faced her. She had on her calculating look.

Do I have to tell a story  
Of a thousand rainy days since we first met  
It's a big enough umbrella  
But it's always me that ends up getting wet

"Look, Lily..." he trailed off, not quite sure where to start. "I'm–I'm sorry I yelled at you yesterday, I was angry and I had no right to take anything out on you. Will you-will you forgive me?" He shifted his weight from foot to foot, waiting for the verdict...his sentence...  
"Okay, James." His hand had been heading for his hair, but she caught it, and he pulled it away. He could feel his ears turn slightly pink and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "I was in the wrong too, anyways. I shouldn't have accused you of anything either. So I'm sorry too." Then he outright stared. Lily Evans? Apologizing? To him? Then he shook himself, as she was obviously waiting for an answer.   
"Oh, I, ummm, that's alright, I was being something of an idiot, really..." she gave him a shy smile.   
"Besides, I should be thanking you, for helping me out back there." He shrugged.   
"Malfoy's filth. He's always hanging with Bellatrix Black and her friends. They're all corrupted." And oddly enough, they were back to the easy friendship they'd had before his abominable screw-up. They kept talking even once they'd reached the Library.   
"Well, I'll leave you here, I'm supposed to be on the Quidditch Pitch in 20 minutes."   
"Alright, I'll see you soon then?" He smiled at her and nodded. He said a quick goodbye, and turned to leave, feeling as if he had resolved things pretty well, and was much lighter for it. He was halfway down the hall when she called him back.   
"Oh! And James!" He looked back over his shoulder. She had a mischievous smile on her face. "I'll see you next Hogsmeade weekend?" His jaw must have dropped a foot. It took him half a minute to snap out of it. He was grinning.   
"Sure." She beamed at him. He practically skipped on his way to the pitch. Lily Evans had agreed to go out with him & beautiful, witty, amazing Lily...

 

NB. My italics aren't working! I'm an italics fan! This is unacceptable. I realize this is inhibiting comprehension. Suggestions? I work on Macintosh, so uploading isn't always a walk in the park. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.


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